General Assembly - UN Documents

A/CONF.216/PC/7
producers and consumers, public policy for a green economy extends well beyond
“getting prices right”. If it does not, there is little chance that a green economy in
the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication will be up to the
task at hand of fundamentally shifting consumption and production patterns onto a
more sustainable path. Governments have a critical role to play in financing green
research and development and infrastructure investments and in providing a
supportive policy environment for green investments by the private sector and for
the development of dynamic green growth sectors. They also have a crucial role to
play in ensuring that green economy policies support employment and income
generation for the poor and vulnerable.
14. It has been noted by numerous Member States (India and others) that green
economy does not “supplant” or substitute for sustainable development but rather is
best understood as a means to achieving the end of sustainable development. It has
also been stressed (India) that green economy should preserve “ample flexibility and
space for national authorities to make their own choices and define their paths
towards sustainable development based on national circumstances and priorities”.
While these formulations help to clarify the relationship between the two concepts,
it is only practical experience that can demonstrate the effectiveness of green
economy strategies, policies and measures as accelerators towards sustainable
development.
B. Contribution of the green economy to growth and other
economic objectives
15. During the past century, aggregate consumption of raw materials has
continuously increased; regular improvements in resource efficiency and pollution
control technologies have not been large enough to offset the effect of the increase
in the size of the global economy. 2 The need for a system of production and
consumption that imposes significantly lower pressures on natural resource stocks
and the environment is now widely recognized. The green economy in the context of
sustainable development and poverty eradication has emerged as a framework for
moving in that direction. While it holds promise, it also poses daunting challenges;
both are described in the present section with respect to growth and the economy.
16. The increased understanding of the risks posed by the current economic model
arises at a time when many developing countries are on the threshold of major
investments in energy, transport, waste, water and sanitation infrastructure, and
sustained economic growth is seen as critical to the completion of the development
transition. Would a green economy in the context of sustainable development and
poverty eradication allow developing countries to complete their development
transitions while laying the groundwork for sustaining high levels of human
development for generations to come?
17. At the global level, the main question is how a green economy transition
would affect global growth rates and patterns. Would green growth be slower
growth, merely growth of a different kind, or perhaps even faster progress towards
human development goals — whether or not that translates into GDP growth as
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2 Fridolin Krausmann and others, “Growth in global materials use, GDP and population during the
20th century”, Ecological Economics, vol. 68, No. 10 (2009).
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